MY FAMILY
THE BETA ISRAEL CURRICULUM
OUTREACH I: 1855-1867
Teachers should begin the unit by explaining:
As we learned in Unit 6: Attempted Journeys, the first members of the Beta Israel to visit Jerusalem were Daniel ben Hananiah and his son Moshe, in 1855. During this trip, they told the leading rabbis in Jerusalem about the difficulties facing Jews in Ethiopia and received an “empathetic letter of solidarity.” The existence of the Beta Israel had been largely unknown outside of Africa for most of history, but by the mid-nineteenth century, a handful of scholars and leaders in Europe began to learn about Ethiopian Jewry and show serious interest.77 This was of key significance considering that support was already on the rise among Protestant Christian missionary circles,78 who sought to convert the Beta Israel to Christianity.
Against the backdrop of these efforts, Rabbi Jacob Sapir (a Jerusalem- based ethnographer and emissary) launched a “massive emotional appeal” in 1863 to organize a “rescue delegation”79 to visit the Beta Israel in Ethiopia. Various action committees were subsequently established throughout Western Europe to aid the Beta Israel. Among the leading Jewish voices on the issue was Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer (1820-1899), spiritual leader of the Austro-Hungarian community of Eisenstadt.
“For several years a most troubling account has made the heart of every Jew tremble…. It is the sad news that two hundred and fifty thousand of our believers… are exposed to the imminent danger of being swallowed up in the abyss… We must exert ourselves to prove the oneness of all Israel.”81
Teachers should then explain:
Rabbi Hildesheimer was driven by both the spiritual and physical dangers facing the Beta Israel as a religious minority in Ethiopia and believed that whatever could be done should be done to help them. In fact, Rabbi Hildesheimer concluded each of the letters that he penned to Jewish leaders at the time with the words of the sages: “Whoever saves one Jewish soul, it is as if he saved an entire world.”82
After sharing Rabbi Hildesheimer’s story, teachers should ask their students:
1. What do these words mean to you?
“Whoever saves one Jewish soul, it is as if he saved an entire world”
2. Why do you think Rabbi Hildesheimer concluded each of his letters with these words?
3. What do you think Rabbi Hildesheimer meant by the word “save,” in this instance?
Following discussion of this phrase, teachers should proceed to explain:
Humanitarian efforts were growing among activist circles on behalf of the Beta Israel. Funds, holy books, and religious articles were collected,83 drawing both aid and attention. But it became clear to Jewish leaders that to really help, they must forge direct communication with the Beta Israel community. Rabbi Meir Leibush (1809-1879), an esteemed Torah commentator known by the acronym “Malbim,” approached the Paris-based Alliance Israelite Universelle84 and recommended that Joseph Halévy (a renowned French Jewish scholar), “be sent… to make contact with them.”85 Halévy had a brilliant mind for both Torah and secular subjects, was fluent in the Ethiopian languages (among others), and he was eager to help.86
Students should be encouraged to research Joseph Halévy independently to reflect on his life and work.
77 Examples of new supporters included Filosssenso Luzzatto (1829- 1854), the son of Rabbi Samuel David Luzzatto, who with the help of Antoine d’Abbadie managed to contact one of the Beta Israel community See Menachem Waldman, The Jews of Ethiopia: The Beta Israel Community, (Amishav, 1985) p. 51.
78 See From Sinai to Ethiopia, 66: “The Jews who converted to Christianity are known today as “Falashmura.”
79 Waldman, The Jews of Ethiopia: The Beta Israel Community, 52.
80 As published in The Jewish Chronicle and The Hebrew Observer on November 4, 1864.
81 See Waldman, The Jews of Ethiopia: The Beta Israel Community, 52- 53 (with slight textual adaptation).
82 See Shalom, From Sinai to Ethiopia, p. 67: “Whoever saves one Jewish soul, it is as if he saved an entire world” is a rabbinic teaching initially sourced in Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5. The teaching is derived from the story of Cain and Abel where, upon killing Abel, Cain is rebuked for taking his brother’s life – and depriving life from Abel’s potential descendants for generations to More recently, this teaching has been quoted during times of war. The phrase was also engraved on a ring given to Oskar Schindler, who saved the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust.
83 See Waldman, The Jews of Ethiopia: The Beta Israel Community, 53.
84 The Alliance Israelite Universelle was founded in 1860 by the French statesman Adolphe Crémieux to safeguard the human rights of Jews around the world.
85 See Waldman, The Jews of Ethiopia: The Beta Israel Community, 53.
86 Ibid.
